This post reproduces a bluesky thread where I talk about what it means for me to divest from twitter.
Okay, it's time to divest from Twitter. I haven't been on the platform for months. But my account is still there, and I want to wind it down responsibly. I'm going to spend today thinking through what that entails for me personally. I'm open to hearing other people's thoughts.
I use the word "divest" to convey something intentional. It's not just deleting my account. In fact, I'm not even sure that's the right thing. More on that later.
Instead, divesting is about trying to take back the power I've given to the platform. Reducing it's importance and impact on my life.
I'm not leaving Twitter because I want to. Despite its many ongoing problems, I had made my peace with the tradeoffs of being on Twitter. It was my preferred home online, and I appreciated it very much. But the changes are significant enough that it's not the same place anymore.
I wanted to write a well-researched and persuasive argument about why a principled person should consider leaving Twitter. I want to convince other people that it's time to let it go. But honestly my thoughts aren't organized enough to do a good job there. I'm sorry I can't provide that today.
I can give you the short, off the cuff thread version though. It's not time to leave Twitter simply because we don't like Elon Musk. And it's not because he has made significant changes to the platform that we don't like. It's because the balance of power has shifted, and Twitter is actively unsafe.
Musk is allying with white supremacy and many other forms of bigotry. He is actively giving power to fascist factions. He wields his control over the platform capriciously and punitively. He has no respect for privacy. Not even the veneer that we usually expect from corporate entities.
Remaining on Twitter is equivalent to giving a bigoted and immature man-child direct power over many aspects of your online life. By staying, you also help to legitimize a platform that should no longer hold the same legitimacy in our culture and our society.
From a more practical perspective, I don't think your Twitter content will remain available on Twitter. At some point, it will no longer be available to you. I also believe Musk will actively use your content and your identity to enrich himself and his partners. He's probably doing it already.
We can't take all of our power back from Twitter. Based on the terms of service, they basically own everything you've ever given them. We've known that for a while now. We just hoped that we wouldn't end up in the worst case scenario of that tradeoff. But here we are.
So what can we do that is meaningful? Obviously we can stop contributing to the platform. Don't post. Log out. Convince the people you know to divest. Our goal should be to actively shrink Twitter's engagement and relevance until it is not so big a threat.
Ideally we should use this opportunity to levy as many consequences against Musk as we can. We have to remind shitty billionaires that although they may have unlimited power and resources, that doesn't mean they are free from consequences when they fuck with us. Together, we wield power too.
But we also need to bring this back down to the individual level. What do you need for yourself in this moment? What do I need?
I need safety from being personally attacked. I need to ensure that the identity I had on Twitter won't be misused now or in the future. And I need to reclaim my history.
I've already succeeded in downloading my full Twitter archive. I've been encouraging other people to do so if they can. But I know it's not working for everybody. I would love to see third party solutions that enable people to retrieve their content from Twitter.
The big decision I need to make is what to do with my account. Deleting it feels like an obvious step. But I think there are more things to consider. Regardless of what happens going forward, our past on Twitter was and is highly relevant. Twitter is history. I want to preserve what I did there.
The problem is that I don't expect my account to stay in its current state going forward. Musk can do anything he wants with it. He can make drastic changes to how it is presented and what it represents, and it will still have my face on it. That's part of what I mean by misusing my identity.
I want to take my identity out of his control. But I'm not sure there is an effective way to do that while still leaving some lasting indicator that I was there. Again, I'm happy to hear ideas. I've heard lots of them already, but I'm still processing what matters to me.
Then finally there's personal safety. This is the part that is difficult to explain without sounding like a conspiracy theorist. I believe that leaving your account unattended on Twitter is potentially hazardous. Musk has emboldened and even empowered the most toxic elements of social media.
I was outspoken on Twitter. I was radicalized there. I found my voice there. But in order to speak my truth, I had to learn how to protect myself and my family. I think that equation has changed. I don't know how to protect myself with the platform directly under the control of someone like Musk.
Even deleting your account doesn't solve that problem. Once we accept that Musk is duplicitous and unethical, we have to accept that he doesn't have to do the right thing even if we delete our accounts. But that may still be the best step we can take.
This thread is long enough, so I'm gonna leave it here. I will read all replies, but I may not respond. It should go without saying, but I'm not interested in arguing about this. Feel free to have different opinions about any of it. But we don't need to debate. Thanks.